Toy Robot Video is opening the Warner Bros. archives for December and giving two absolutely rock-solid VHS-era classics their first releases on 4K disc. Sharky’s Machine, with Burt Reynolds, and Passenger 57, with Wesley Snipes, are top-tier titles that are certain to become big sellers for the new sub-label of Arrow Video, which is putting out a lot of really exciting movies.
Sharky’s Machine is likely the more obscure title of the two. It’s one of Burt Reynolds’ best films, with it being a particular passion project for him that he also directed. Released in 1981 and based on the novel by William Diehl, it’s one of the best cop movies of the era, following a vice cop named Sharky who stumbles upon a prostitution ring in the city that’s getting blackmail material on important politicians. Starting a sting operation with his crew (the titular “Machine”), he begins to observe a high-priced call girl named Domino (Rachel Ward), who he falls for. But when she’s seemingly taken out by a demented killer (Henry Silva in an unnerving performance) who’s part of the ring, all bets are off.
For those who mostly know Reynolds for his good-ol’-boy comedies, this is a pretty shocking film. It’s ultra-violent, with a couple of gruesome killings that put Italian giallo films to shame. It also has terrific action (the movie ends with an incredible, record-breaking high fall from stuntman Dar Robinson), with Burt delivering a magnificently hard-boiled performance. It has a really seedy sense of atmosphere, as well as a classic jazz soundtrack and a phenomenal cast of character actors, led by Bernie Casey as his Zen-cop partner and Charles Durning as his abrasive but ultimately empathetic chief. It’s often been called Reynolds’ take on Dirty Harry, but to me, it’s better than any of those films. It’s a shame his career went off the rails soon after because Sharky would have been a great character to build a cop franchise around.
Here are the specs for the disc:
- NEW 4K scan and restoration from the original camera negative
- NEW Let’s Get Di Pego, interview with screenwriter Gerald Di Pego
- NEW The Reluctant Stuntman, interview with actor/stuntman Dan Inosanto
- NEW Get on the Bus, interview with actor Robert Duncan McNeill
- NEW My Hero, Burt Reynolds, interview with filmmaker Adam Rifkin
- NEW 2K scan of the theatrical trailer
- Teaser trailer
- TV spot
- Behind-the-scenes stills gallery
By contrast, Passenger 57 is better known, with it considered one of Wesley Snipes’ essential titles. In it, he plays a counterterrorism expert named John Hatcher, who winds up on a plane hijacked by terrorist Charles Rane (Bruce Payne). Snipes gives one of the best action performances of the decade, with the film immediately establishing him as one of the top action stars of the era. It’s crazy to me that this has never gotten a 4K release before. Here are the specs:
- NEW 4K scan of the original camera negative
- NEW interview with writer Stewart Raffill
- NEW 2K scan of the original theatrical trailer
Which one of these are you picking up? Let us know in the comments. Here’s the cover art:
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